Jury selection begins in double homicide trial

Jury selection began this morning in the double homicide trial of Justin W. Crenshaw. He’s charged with two counts of aggravated murder for killing a Mead High School senior and a young man on Feb. 28, 2008, in north Spokane. While jury selection has begun, the panel will be sent home and called back for the beginning of arguments, scheduled for July 12, because of scheduling conflicts with investigators. Defense Attorney Chris Bugbee said he asked Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen to delay the jury selection until later, but she denied the motion. Crenshaw is charged with killing Sarah A. Clark, 18, and Tanner E. Pehl, 20. Firefighters responded to a fire at 512 E. Elm St. and discovered the bodies inside. Investigators found two swords near the victims. Crenshaw, who had spent 18 months in jail for a stabbing as a juvenile, had recently moved to Spokane before the slayings. He told detectives he got drunk with Clark and Pehl, but that he spent the night alone in a friend’s apartment. About two months after the double slaying, investigators found a wad of bloody clothes in the garage of Crenshaw’s aunt. He was staying in that north Spokane home at the time of the killings.